On Saturday night, Feb 19, I got a Facebook message from a writer friend offering me the phone number of an activist in Benghazi who was witness to the protests and the progress of the revolution there. I phoned the guy myself and over the following nights recorded interviews with him about developments.
He was clearly caught up in the fear and excitement of events. In one interview he is in the street prematurely celebrating the fall of Gadaffi.
In another he is admitting his fear that the city will be attacked and saying he is amazed that people are ready to die.
One night he told me that he was recommending to protesters that they return the weapons they had captured from the army and trust the local commandos to protect them. Some were following this advice, others were holding onto the weapons, anxious that an army leader who had joined them the previous day now seemed to have disappeared.
I think these are important pieces of internet journalism and I hope they will provide raw material for a written piece on the difference between blogging and mainstream journalism.
Here are the four recordings I have made so far, the latest being at the top.
If you have time, start with the first at the bottom and listen to them all.
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